Passenger numbers down

BOB HOPE AIRPORT — Reduced corporate travel budgets continue to drag down passenger numbers at Bob Hope Airport, which in July saw numbers drop 15.12% compared with the same period last year, according to the latest figures released Tuesday.

The airport had 71,255 fewer passengers in July compared with the same period last year, bringing the year-to-date total down 17.8% to 2.67 million people, according to a report Tuesday to the Burbank-Glendale- Pasadena Airport Authority.

The tumbling passenger counts left airport officials with little hope for a turnaround as the slower post-summer holiday season begins. Thoughts of a turnaround emerged in April, the first time in six months that the dip remained below 20%, prompting some airport executives to wonder if business and leisure travel budgets were on the rise. That month’s 10.4% drop was the lowest since June 2008, when the number of passengers fell 9.51% from 2007.

But figures recorded over the last three months have only worsened.

“The August numbers will be more telling,” said Dan Feger, executive director of the Burbank-Glendale- Pasadena Airport Authority. “Although I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet.”

The number of commercial airline passengers in June plummeted 17.2% from the same period last year, with nearly every carrier reporting sharp drop-offs. Figures for May and March closely mirrored those of January and February, when passenger totals decreased 20.57% and 21.62%, respectively, compared with 2008.

Statistics show declines every month since April 2008, with double-digit drops recorded each of the last 12 months.

Bob Hope Airport is not alone in its struggles, according to figures released last month by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

For the first five months of the year, the number of scheduled domestic and international passengers on U.S. airlines declined by 9.5% from the same period in 2008.

Perhaps the biggest blow to the Burbank airport comes by way of slumping passenger traffic reported by Southwest Airlines, which accounts for about two-thirds of the airport’s operations.

The carrier reported a decline of 11.7% compared with last year, and year-to-date passenger counts are off nearly 16%.

“What Southwest does is really what the airport is doing,” Feger said.

Commissioners, bolstered by in-house surveys taken this summer, said they don’t expect a recovery any time soon. Results released last month show more than two-thirds of passengers taking a “wait-and-see” approach on whether they plan to increase or decrease travel expenditures in the next year.

Those traveling for business are prone to return sooner after a significant economic rebound, airport spokesman Victor Gill said. The majority of business travelers said they planned to fly more, he said.

John T. Hatanaka, senior deputy executive director for the airport authority, said lower demand for flights is the driving factor behind airlines cutting back service, with bleak times expected in the interim leading up to the winter holiday travel season.